Miramar hosts reggae celebration linking Jamaica, Africa, and diaspora

Richie Stephens, JC Lodge, Gem Myers and Leon Coldero will anchor a Miramar program that is being built as much like a cultural gathering as a concert. Rhythms of Africa: Run Di Riddim - Every Beat for Jamaica is set for April 18 and 19, 2026 at the Miramar Cultural Center - Theater, 2400 Civic Center Place, and the cast already gives it the feel of a multigenerational reggae bill with roots, lovers rock and legacy in the same frame.

The event is being staged by the Embrace Music Foundation in partnership with the City of Miramar, with reggae ambassador Willie Stewart directing and Mayor Wayne M. Messam hosting. That matters in Miramar, where city government has made the Cultural Center part of its public-facing arts footprint and where the Town Center complex stretches across 54 acres with City Hall, a public library, a cultural center-arts park and an educational center. This is not being treated like a pop-up promoter date. It is being positioned as a city-backed celebration with Jamaica at its center and the African diaspora in view.

Stewart first launched Rhythms of Africa in 2010, and the 2026 edition carries a heavier historical charge. Caribbean Today said the show will include a 21 Reggae One Drop Salute honoring Jimmy Cliff, Stephen Cat Coore and Sly Dunbar, with Coore and Stewart having shared 21 years as Third World bandmates. The same program will also feature the live debut of Have A Little Faith, written and co-produced by Stewart and Sean Wedderburn. The song had already charted on the South Florida Reggae Chart and entered the Foundation Radio Network Chart in the tri-state area, which gives the premiere extra weight beyond the stage reveal.

Messam’s role adds another layer to the story. The city identifies him as Miramar’s first Black mayor, elected to the City Commission in 2011 and to the mayor’s office in 2015, and says he is now serving his third term. The city has also noted his Jamaican heritage in connection with Jamaican-themed programming, which helps explain why Miramar has become such a natural South Florida home for this kind of event. Earlier Rhythms of Africa editions have drawn standing-room-only crowds at the Cultural Center, and Stewart has used the platform to teach African drumming and percussion to students at Somerset Academy Central Miramar.

That blend of performance, remembrance and civic pride is what gives Run Di Riddim its pull. With Stephens, Lodge, Myers and Coldero on the bill, plus the salute to Cliff, Coore and Dunbar, Miramar is setting up a reggae weekend that reaches well past entertainment and into cultural memory, community education and Jamaican resilience.